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Monday, November 28, 2011

Keeping Sane Through the Sales

It seems to me that this "sale season" there were a lot of awful commercials, maybe more than usual. You had a woman doing physical training for shopping:

And someone who actually used that HORRID song, Friday as though it were an acceptable tune:

And it seems to me like our commercial culture has decided it's totally okay to be crazy - we are progressively normalizing insane sale spending. These commercials are designed to make us look at the TV and say, Oh! Other people are doing it...it's totally fine to leave dinner early and camp outside of stores...it's NORMAL.

Now I understand that there are two sides to this story. Families can rely on these sales for gifts - it helps stretch the budget. But I think our culture should be shifting its values back to the feast and away from the sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday epitomize the problems with our consumerist culture. Instead of actively trying to just pair down our gifting habits, we scour sales to get as much as possible, and I bet a lot of it is stuff people didn't need and maybe didn't want in the first place.

If you're the type who loves to do this type of shopping then more power to you. But I wouldn't suggest going out if you see it as a chore and I certainly don't think it's OK to normalize excessive spending and PT for shopping.

About Me

Hi! I'm Anna. I am a recently employed MPH living in the Baltimore, MD area. My goal is to use this blog as forum to discuss the issues that affect me daily as a feminist, fashionista, foodie, and public health professional.